>> reporter: that's kind of what patrick did. his license plate even pays homage to the griswolds. the plywood platform it's on had to be bolted on. true, this not a new concept. in england and in lincolnwood, illinois, there have been grander versions of the same visual joke with the tree cut in three. >> you're saying it's better than this one? >> yours has a charlie brown aspect to it. >> i think it needs me. >> reporter: what patrick needs and has is a christmas tree, with a nice plump one that grazes the ceiling rather than pierces it. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> that will definitely make you look twice, no doubt. thank you so much for starting

your morning with us. much more ahead on cnn saturday morning, which starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. it's 8:00 am on the east coast, 5:00 am in the west. powerful national rifle association, here's tom foreman. >> hey, randi, nra officials were quiet in the days following the newtown, connecticut, shooting, giving people time to mourn. now they are speaking up and they have a lot to say. despite protesters, the president and public opinion increasingly pushing against the gun lobby, the national rifle association sent a sharp message to its leader, wayne lapierre,

no retreat. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with an a gun is a good guy with a gun. i call on congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation. >> reporter: in a wide-ranging statement, lapierre condemned the violence in connecticut, colorado and other places, but steered the conversation away from guns and gun law. indeed he lambasted officials who want to restrict guns from schools. >> in doing so they tell every insane killer in america that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk. >> the nra has blood on its hands. >> reporter: despite twice being interrupted by protesters,

lapierre went on to blame the media. >> a child growing up in america today witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18. and does anybody really believe that the next adam lanza isn't planning his attack on a school? he's already identified at this very moment. >> reporter: he announced plans for what he calls a national school shield program, to recruit and train volunteers to thwart such attacks. can you answer one question, mr. keen? but details on how that might work remain unclear. for all their statements, nra officials are still not answering questions. some of this is almost certainly a reminder to congress members all over the country that the nra has a lot of clout, not just here in washington, but in many

state and local races. a reminder that that may come to bear if some of those lawmakers get on board with this new idea of gun laws. the nra might make them pay at the polls. randi? >> thank you, tom. the nra statement came one week to the day of the sandy hook elementary shooting. across the nation a moment of silence, honoring those victims. [ bell tolls ] >> james mattioli, age 6. [ bell tolls ] >> in hartford, connecticut, a touching scene, the bell ringing for each of the victims, each little angel receiving their wings. you are looking now at some

live pictures of the white house and capitol hill, but the people who could get a deal done on the fiscal cliff impasse, well, they're not there. lawmakers have gone home for the holiday recess. and president obama and the first family arrived in hawaii just a short time ago. the president and lawmakers are expected to return thursday after the christmas break. before leaving washington, mr. obama and house speaker john boehner both expressed hope that a deal will actually get done. >> we can't cut our way to prosperity. we need real economic growth. many of us believe on both sides of the aisle that the fundamental reform of our tax code will help us get our economy moving faster and put more americans back to work. and more americans on -- how we get there, god only knows. >> i asked for a compromise from

members of congress, i met them more than halfway on spending and met them halfway on taxes. in terms of actual dollar amounts, we're not that far apart. as of today, i am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done. >> but time is running out. to reach an agreement, there are now just ten days left until automatic tax hikes and spending cuts do take effect. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq finished in some negative territory for the day. investors fear the country could slide back into recession if there's no deal to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts. staying in washington, senator john kerry is in line for a new job. president obama officially nominated kerry to be the next secretary of state. he's currently the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. secretary of state hillary clinton said she wanted to leave the job after president obama's

first term. well, a white christmas is in the forecast for some of us. but with it, we may see some unwanted weather. the midwest got its share this week with a blizzard in iowa and more than a foot of snow in wisconsin. the system that caused this is expected to dump inches in western pennsylvania and upstate new york today. as for christmas, the big day, let's check in with meteorologist alexandra steele. she has all the answers on who is going to see a white christmas. good morning, alexandra. >> good morning, everyone. good morning to you. meteorologically, a white christmas means there's an inch of snow on the ground christmas morning. doesn't have to be falling. just has to be there. look at this. who is going to see a white christmas? so many of us. certainly a lot better than last year if you want a white christmas. last year, western new york had brown ground. this year, that is not the case. so, from upstate new york all the way down the spine of appalachians, chicago, the twin cities, denver.

you can see all the mountains. if you are skiing, you are certainly in great luck. and really so much of the northern tier of the country, even diving down here into the southwest. white christmas is on tap for you. let me show you weatherwise what will happen. maybe you're traveling or you want to see what will move through the country weatherwise. there is a storm developing. if you're in san francisco, it has been a deluge of rain. as we toward tomorrow, watch san francisco once again get hit with rain. you can see that move through. it does move out by monday. monday, the west coast is dry. here's what we're really watching. this will be our christmas week storm more or less. area of low pressure will develop here in the gulf of mexico. we'll bring in moisture from the gulf. there develops that low. this is christmas. it may not be white, but it will be wet. perhaps in little rock and new orleans and birmingham and atlanta, down here into the deep south. if we can get enough cold air down here, we may mix in a few snow flurries.

we're keeping an eye on how deep that cold air gets. it looks like that low will develop. and across the country here into the midatlantic and bring some snowwednesday, thursday timeframe into the northeast again. we'll have to keep an eye on that. the focus for today, the northeast, of course, some snow showers even around new york city perhaps today. but it is cold and blustery. very windy conditions. gusting still, hot on the heels of that big storm. still that area of low pressure is here in new england. it's throwing off an awful lot of wind. 30, 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts. what's happening here in the west, randi from seattle to san francisco, wet go for you. no question about that. still a slow day at the airports there. >> certainly looks like a very busy map, alexandra. thank you very much. >> sure. >> much more ahead this hour. here is a look at what we have coming up. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, this is "cnn saturday morning." you're not welcome here. that may be russia's message to

hundreds of american families. why amnesty international says new legislation would have a chilling effect on human rights. more guns. that's the nra's solution for preventing for school massacre. all morning long we put gun control in focus. an olympian with a double life why susie hamilton apologized for her second career in las vegas.

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we're definitely noticing an increase in terms of sales. right now i would say there's a significant amount of panic buying, ever since there was an announcement made that there might be an assault weapons ban, people are making sure they can get these gun force their own use, own pleasure use, own self

defense. as a result, i believe people are probably acting a little irrationally. we don't know what's going to happen. we don't know what type of policies will be suggested or implemented. >> welcome back. the shootings in newtown, connecticut, have sparked renewed debate over gun control in america and prompted president obama to take immediate action on reforming existing laws. listen. >> this is not some washington commission. this is a team that has a very specific task, to pull together real reforms right now. >> and at the core of the debate is the second amendment. let's bring in cnn legal contributor paul callan. god morning. >> good morning, randi. >> does the second amendment, when you look at it, does the second amendment to the constitution prevent congress from passing tougher gun laws at all? >> no, it doesn't. i think a lot of people were worried because in this recent

supreme court decision, heller decision, that confirmed there is an individual right to bear arms, that that would prevent congress from placing restrictions. no, it doesn't. the supreme court has held that the second amendment permits people to keep weapons in their house for self protection, but it doesn't say anything about high-capacity ammunition magazines. it doesn't say anything about what kinds of guns we're allowed to keep. certainly well reasoned restrictions are perfectly legal under the second amendment. >> if tougher gun laws are passed by congress that outlaw the assault rifles and those large ammunition clips that unfortunately we've had to talk so much about, what would this mean for the gun owners who currently have them? >> well, this is an important question. i think when we talk about gun control, we ultimately -- really, it's a political question. there are 450 million firearms in america at this moment. there's a huge amount of weaponry out there. some of those are these -- what we call assault weapons, gun

enthusiasts say they're just sort of rifles that you can change the configuration of and you only have to pull the trigger once and one bullet comes out so they're not machine guns or automatic weapons. those weapons that you could put a high capacity clip into have been involved in a lot of these mass killings. and certainly there's going to be a major battle about whether people who already have those guns can have the guns taken away from them. >> yeah. >> from a legal standpoint, randi, yes, you could take them away. we take people's land away. it's called eminent domain. you pay them for it when you take the property back. yes, it could be done. politically, will we try to do it? we never have this the past. i don't know if the political will is there to do it. >> i want to ask you about this new cnn/orc poll that shows 52% of americans favor major restrictions on guns or making all guns illegal. what influence do you think this might have on copyingress or th courts? any influence at all? >> it has a big influence.

through the years, you hit a tipping point on issues where the public finally starts to say, hey, something has to be done. and, you know, i think this shooting in connecticut is a tipping point. and if the obama administration acts quickly, there may be a chance to put some new regulations in place. but, unfortunately, the public has had a short memory on these things. the other thing you have to remember is the nra says more than 50% of americans support gun ownership. and statistically, a lot more people than you think have guns in their homes. i've seen the statistic. more than 65% of people who identify as republicans have guns in their homes. more than 25% of democrats do. and so a lot of people have guns in their homes. they believe in it. so it's always difficult to pass regulations that restrict gun ownership. >> this isn't even the first time that a u.s. president has asked for gun laws on assault

rifles and those gun clips. what is different this first time around? and will that make a difference? >> i think the difference here is that children were involved. i don't care where you live, who you are, whether you're a gun enthusiast or not. you look at this and say we've got to find a way to prevent this from happening. you know, the nra is saying you need trained security people to protect these schools. other people are saying, no, we need no more guns. is it realistic to think we can eliminate all guns? probably not. you know something? i think we're at a tipping point now where people are saying we need new laws. we need something. something to prevent this. and my feeling is, in the end, they're going to go after these assault weapons and high-capacity clips so that somebody can't go in with a gun that can fire large amounts of ammunition. i think probably that's an area that everybody -- most people will agree with now and then we can move on to the harder questions later. >> sounds like a plan that we

may see unfold. paul callan, thank you very much. nice to see you. >> always nice being with you, randi. >> we reached out to 43 senators of the incoming 113th congress who have an a or a plus rating by the nra and not one of them agreed to join us this morning for a conversation. coming up at 10:00 am this morning eastern time, i'll be joined by virginia state lawmaker, proposing a new law to arm teachers in his state. russia could be closing its doors to some american families. we'll explain why.

welcome back. 22 minutes past the hour now. this morning the pope pardoned his former butler, in prison for

leaking private vatican governments. he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for aggravated theft in october. the high-profile scandal became known as vatileaks. the pope personally visited gabriele before confirming his pardon. reunited with his family, john hammer was released yesterday partly thanks to work from u.s. senator bill nelson. hammer was imprisoned on a questionable charge after police found him with an antique shotgun. his parents say u.s. officials told him it was okay to cross the border with that gun. you see it there. mexican officials accused him of violating their laws. >> spokeswoman for margaret thatcher says the former british prime minister is doing fine after surgery. 87-year-old thatcher is recuperating after having a growth removed from her bladder. she has cut back dramatically on

public appearances after suffering a series of mild strokes. now to russia, where the country is moving to ban u.s. citizens from adopting russian children and already passed one house of parliament. michael mcfaul is criticizing by saying this we are very concerned by measures that would link the fate of orphaned children to unrelated political issues. >> why are they doing this? what are the political issue that is mcfaul is referring to? >> this is direct retaliation for what is called the mitsky act, a u.s. act passed earlier that freezes the assets of russian officials accused of human rights violations, particularly in reference to an anti-corruption lawyer that was found murdered in prison in 2009. >> we've talked a lot about the case of this mother in tennessee

who had adopted a child from russia, couldn't take it anymore, said he was misbehaving, i think he even threatened her. sent him back, just put him on a plane. would this have anything to do with a case like this? >> definitely a contributing factor. that was the horrific case that ricochetted around the world. there was also another case of a young boy. he was found in a sweltering car with the windows up, left unattended by his american father who adopted him. several incidents like that that have definitely exacerbated the situation. the real catalyst in the ban is the retaliation for the magnitsky act. >> it's such a popular spot for them to go. >> third in terms of american adoptions. first is china, second is ethiopia and third is russia. there were about 45,000 adoptions of russian children by americans since 1999. randi, yesterday i spoke to

various adoption agencies, people who had adopted from russia, people who are hoping to. those hoping to don't know what's going to happen. one assumes that on wednesday the upper house of parliament will pass this. he said on thursday he is going to look at it very carefully but he is furious with the americans because of this act. >> what happens if there's an adoption already in process? >> it's unknown at this point. one assumes it will go through. i spoke to people who are very anxious and at the end of this, children who are waiting to be adopted. so they're not quite sure yet what's going to happen. >> natdia, i know you will have more for us. if you're eating breakfast, eating cereal, you may want to consider eating it dry. what you could pay for gallon of milk.

♪ i'll be home for christmas, ♪ you can count on me, ♪ i'll be home for christmas, ♪ if only in my dreams.

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[ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. bottom of the hour now. welcome back, everyone. i'm randi kaye. thanks so much for starting your morning with us. here are five stories we're watching this morning. amid tight security, egyptians are having their say on a controversial new constitution for their country. it is the second and final round of voting. it follows weeks of sometimes violent protests. the referendum is expected to pass, but there have been allegations of voter intimidation and bribery. critics say the draft charter will increase islamist power.

supporters say it will boost egypt's stability. three people have been arrested in connection with the deadly house explosion in indianapolis. here they are. two of those suspects lived in the house that blew up. that explosion killed two of their neighbors. all three facing both felony murder and arson charges. massachusetts company linked to a deadly nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis is filing for bankruptcy. they did not follow sterilization procedures for a steroid it disrupted the fda says. 39 people died after they were injected. the company says it will establish a fund to compensate individuals and the families that were affected by it. california's ban on conversion therapy for gay minors has been put on hold. a federal appeals panel has slapped an emergency injunction on it. some people believe conversion therapy can help turn a gay

person straight. the ban would have gone into effect on january 1st, preventing people under age 18 from undergoing the controversial treatment. a therapist and several other people have filed suit to overturn it. got milk? it may be a lot more expensive to answer yes to that question come the new year. if a new agriculture bill isn't passed by congress, bill for dairy farmers will revert to a statute that dates back to 1949. essentially the government would be forced to buy milk at double the average cost. that would push the price for a gallon of milk to over $7. well, the drama on capitol hill continues. members of congress get to go home for the holiday weekend. forget about getting a christmas gift in the form of a fiscal budget deal this season. in the end, house speaker john boehner could not persuade his own party to support him in his plan b to raise taxes on

americans making $1 million or more. so, he pulled the bill from the floor. the plan was significant, because republican leaders had insisted that they wouldn't raise rates on anyone. here to help us sort out what happens next, which we all want to know, is bloomberg tv anchor trish regan. good morning. >> good morning, randi. >> yet another week of drama in washington. this move by boehner, though, leaves the fiscal cliff negotiation in more limbo. what happens to all of us if no deal is reached ten days from now? >> we're all going to see our taxes go up. that's the reality here. if we go through this cliff, taxes on every american will go up. we will salso see the payroll tx cut end. that's another thing we'll wind up paying. there's 2 million people right now getting an extension on their unemployment benefits. that will end as well. a little bit less money, randi, in everybody's pockets. >> and stock markets, certainly

we were watching the markets yesterday. they've taken a dive. why is that? what is the connection? do you see this continuing? >> the consumer basically, randi, accounts for about two-thirds of this overall economy. consumer spending is critical to having a healthy economy. so if the consumer is being taxed more, doesn't have as much money to spend, the expectation is that the consumer will pull back. you also have something else going on. if there's a lot of uncertainty in the c suite, ceos are saying i don't know what the landscape is going to look like over the next six months. thus i'm not willing to hire right now. that's having an effect. they don't like the idea that washington can't get it together. they want to see lawmakers be able to come up with a solution and the idea that it's boiled down to so much political bickering really bothers them. don't forget, we saw our debt downgraded for the first time ever because washington couldn't

really pull it together. and the thought is if we blow through this fiscal cliff, we could see another debt downgrade as well. >> is there any danger, do you think, in coming up with some -- short-term deal, which sounds like the direction they might be heading in, after listening to the president late yesterday evening, and then trying to figure out the rest of this down the road? is there any risk in doing this? >> i don't think there's necessarily a lot of risk there. investors would like to see something happen. they would like to see washington be able to put some kind of band-aid together just to get us over this hump. and i think the expectation is hopefully washington will do that. the market is anticipating that something will come forward, will get us through this tough spot and in january, in february we'll come up with some kind of grand bargain, if you would, that would address these longer term issues like entitlements, et cetera, that have to be dealt with. >> could anything good come out of actually going over the cliff? >> you would see cuts in

spending. the reality is we're running deficits upwards of $1 trillion, which we simply can't afford. we've got $16 trillion worth of debt. if we go through this cliff, it will force our country to have to cut spending. on the flip side, it means higher taxes out of everyone's pocket at a time when the economy is still on fragile ground, showing some signs of recovery. we've got some good ones this week, randi, but still on fra g fragile ground and people are worried if surm consumers have less money to spend it will take a toll on this economy. >> i know you're reading the tea leaves. what are they telling you? will we have a deal in time? >> it's interesting. about 66% of investors pulled by uvs, the swiss bank, say that they believe a deal will happen. i can tell you the people i talk to on my show every day, they're placing bets one way or the other. the majority think there's a real good chance that we blow

right through this. that we actually go right through it and they're hedging their bets in the investment community. they're not confident that the lawmakers will get it done and it may take some huge market event to really force their hand. when we got t.a.r.p. through in 2008, the bailout package for the financial industry, it didn't happen until the market tanked 800 points. in absence of a major market event like that, it might be hard to see these politicians really pick up the political will enough to convince their constituents they needed to vote for something like this. >> they need something to spur them on. that's for sure. trish regan, nice to see you. thank you. >> nice to see you. ireporters have been weighing in on the fiscal cliff. one of them is telling lawmakers to get real. >> have no rules because they are not spending their own money. they keep spending it and spending money with no regards

to ever getting the united states out of debt. you're spending our money like drunken sailors with no regard to the future of america. my message to president obama and each member of congress is very, very simple. quit spending the money that america does not have.

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welcome back. we've been focusing this morning on the calls for gun control in the wake of the shooting in newtown, connecticut. president obama wants action, while members of congress are planning actual gun control legislation but the powerful national rifle association has another idea. yesterday, they rolled out their plan. while also identifying what they call a major flaw in the current

school security system. politicians passed laws for gun-free school zones, issue press releases bragging about them. they post signs advertising them. and in doing so, they tell every insane killer in america that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk. we care about our president so we protect him with armed secret service agents. members of congress work in offices surrounded byapital police officers. yet when it comes to our most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the american family,

our children, we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> nra executive vice president wayne lapierre delivered that message. early on, he was interrupted by a protester with this sign, nra killing kids. that sign stayed in front of the camera for quite some time before security moved in and moved that protester out. another protester popped up with another sign and security moved in more quickly on that one. that woman is the co-director of the group code pink. she spoke exclusively with our piers morgan and her protest and nra's plan. >> so many of us are parents, piers. i can't imagine that parents

want to see armed security guards on their way to skol every day and they would probably be private contractors with firms that are taking people that have been in combat overseas, have ptsd, could also snap. i mean, the more weapons around, the more unprotected, i think, our children are. i hope it backfires and i hope people saw that lack of compassion that you mentioned. >> and even some nra members are speaking out about the gun violence that rocked newtown, connecticut. take a look at what one man called his tribute to the victims in this cnn ireport. >> this is my nra club card. i want to show you my tribute and how outraged i am at the loss of life in newtown,

connecticut. this is what i'm going to do with this card. that's it. >> the nra says it has 4.3 million members. and the nra proposal is getting strong reaction on both sides. here is some of what you've been saying on twitter. proposal is ludicrous. is he suggesting we make our schools the front line. and if it's going to be put in place, it has to be a long-term placement so that future and current youth feel safe rather than scared. and what kind of gun would they carry? a machine gun, automatic gun, big gun, small pistol? one for each hand? and tammie jenkens says i thought about this the other day. if you know i'm armed you are less likely to attack me. and from hawkeye dave it's like dealing with teenage pregnancy by saying they should just say

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welcome back. 48 minutes past the hour now. we are keeping an eye on this story. this is a doozy. three-time u.s. olympian has admitted she was leading a double life as a high-end escort. we're talking about powerhouse mi mid-distance runner suzy favor hamilton, $600 an hour as a call girl or $6,000 for a day.

she's married. she has a 7-year-old daughter. she is works at a real estate firm and she works as a motivational speaker. what do you think of this? >> very impressive pedigree from that background there. >> she certainly does. and then this. >> very routine life from what we've been reading in madison, wisconsin. this escort service business was a distraction from that routine and ordinary life. she's married as a 7-year-old girl. >> and has an escort name, kelly lundy, an alias. >> before these reports came out, she was showing signs, randi, of backing out. apparently she called some of her customers. they're called in this circle hobbyists. >> hobbyists? >> she called her hobbyists and told them she was backing out. she's been very publicly upfront and apologetic about this. she took to twitter to describe some of her embarrass.

she says i am not a victim here. i knew what i was doing. i was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided d many coping mechanisms for me when i was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time but were very much related to depression. >> you were aable to find some some of the challenges. she lost her brother as well? >> in 1999 she had a brother who committed suicide and that affected her very much so. during the sydney olympics, she said last 200 meters of the race, she fell down intentionally, so as not to embarrass her brother, who said would have been embarrassed by her loss. >> back to her escorting, she started it in las vegas and had these dates in l.a., chicago and houston. this was pretty widespread. >> throughout the united states, randi. >> she has a family. >> not only that but is sponsored, in part, by disney. she was doing this marathon running series and you mentioned these cities she was going to,

not just las vegas, and apparently they were corresponding with her travel dates for disney. she was doing escort service leading up to these dates. >> combining that and disney. >> what's most shocking about this is that her news hus knew about this, that he tried to talk her out of being an escort. she did it for a year, she said to escape her depression and rou teen life. >> he knew? >> he knew about it. >> that's something. nick, always nice to see you. thank you. president obama is in hawaii this morning, while congress is back in their districts. coming up at 9:00 eastern, a look at what the breakdown in negotiations means for the fiscal cliff and more importantly what it means for you and your taxes. but first, when traveling to other cities and countries, the best way to get a real taste for the place is, of course, through that local food. cnn ireport has teamed up with travel and leisure magazine to

create 100 places to eat like a local. here is martin savidge in cleveland. >> reporter: i'm martin savidge. i grew up in cleveland. if you're looking to eat what the clevelanders eat, it doesn't get any more clevelander than here. for more than half a century, sterle's country house. >> live entertainment here thursday, friday and saturdays. >> three words, family, fun, food. >> so, signature dishes? >> i would say the weinershnitzel. >> described as buttery veal, hand pounded with bread crumbs and lightly fried to golden perfection. in the kitchen you see how the magic is made. what have we got coming out of the back there? >> fried shnitzel. >> golden brown, pounded veal,

breaded and deep fried. i always tell everybody, the kitchen, lot of love into those to get them done right. >> i got the shnitzel. it's awesome. and the slovenian potatoes that the waitress recommended, highly recommended and the stuffed cabbage, awesome. >> you don't have to be old or even from the old country to enjoy this place. >> i am celebrating my birthday. i got my friends together, decided to do something different and having some fun. >> nice thing about this is after you've had a good meal, you go out there and burn it all off. >> the band has been coming here since day one. >> get the dessert and get dancing. >> reporter: hope you enjoyed it. if you're ever in cleveland, you know what they say. stop on by. meantime i'm going to go work off some of the food. martin savidge, cnn, cleveland.

>> i love that. martin did a great job with that. ireporters, here is your chance to help us create a food lover's map of the world. go to ireport.com/100places. send us a photo of your favorite restaurant and dish, why it's special, how you discovered that restaurant. the final list of 100 places to eat like a local will be revealed in march 2013, just a few months from now. some ireporters will be on that list. stay tuned to see if you're one of them. [ male announcer ] this december, remember you can stay in and like something ♪

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so when is the topic of the end of the world good for a few laughs? it's easy, when it's so late at night and when people using the mayan calendar were so wrong. >> in turn hit send before double-checking. number four, didn't the world end when justin bieber and selena gomez broke up? number three, apoca-whoops. boy, i'm hoping that the world did zploed now that i'm getting into the list here. well, it was pretty cold and

snowy there for a few minutes so we were kind of right. and number one, just trying to get out of christmas with the in-laws. >> according to the inkas, it's going to end monday. that's bad. next hour of "cnn saturday morning" begins right now. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. it's 9:00 on the east coast, 6:00 am in the west. victor is on assignment. thanks so much for starting your day with us. take a look here. these are live pictures of the white house and capitol hill this morning as the clock ticks down on tax hikes and spending cuts that could hit all of us in just ten days. the people who could be working out a deal on the fiscal cliff impasse, they're not there. president obama and the first family are in hawaii for the holidays and lawmakers have gone home. let's check in with cnn's emily

schmidt in washington, not hawaii. emily, good morning. when will we see everyone back in washington to try to work out a deal? >> randi, that's a good question. everyone has left town. they did so yesterday. everyone is saying they'll be back again after christmas. if there are any negotiations that happen, it will be at least a few days that they would have to be done long distance. and there is a lot of work, it seems, still to be done. we've heard from president obama and house speaker john boehner over the past few hours. and it sounds publicly as if they are still quite far apart. take a listen. >> every member of congress believes that. every democrat, every republican. so there is absolutely no reason, none, not to protect these americans from a tax hike. and at the very least let's agree right now on what we already agree on. let's get that done.

>> the president has offered so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem. and begin to address our nation's crippling debt. instead he wants more tax hikes and spending that will hurt our economy. >> a couple of three senate options could happen. one of them, go over the cliff and watch what happens. another push for a fall back measure and the third push for a broad deal. that is a wide range of things on the table, randi, particularly when you think of the date today and we have so few days left before this deadline that was imposed that was supposed to be a doomsday scenario. >> the higher taxes and paychecks, how concerned should we be about that if there is no agreement? >> one of the toughest jobs out there right now is the person who has to fill out payrolls for their companies because they don't know what to do with all this impasse going op. the irs has not told them how much they should be withholding

from their employees. that means we don't know how much our employers are going to withhold from us. we don't know what's happening with the tax rates. the only real certainty at this point is if something were to happen and we went over the cliff, we would see the social security payroll tax holiday go away. that would be 2% for every american on the first $113,000 that they made. for someone making $50,000 a year, that's about $ 87 a less a month in your paycheck. >> the thing is even if boehner and obama get to a deal, they still have to sell this to another 200 plus people. with boehner's plan b never getting to a vote, the question is, will he have the republican support? >> he couldn't get his caucus behind him on plan b, certainly

thought it would be something that would pass. it brings into question how much power he has. not just his power as speaker but when so many americans are on the line, waiting to see what their paycheck will look like in a couple of weeks. a lot of republicans say this is not the end of the line for him but shows that these parties have a lot of work to do. we keep talking about these sound bites that sound so much as if we had played them from just a month or few months back. lot to be done in the next few days. and everyone is not in washington to work it out at the same table. >> might be a little more heated. the comments and conversations certainly the same. emily schmidt in washington for us. emily, thank you. besides the fiscal cliff, washington is a buzz. we talk about gun control. there's one big roadblock to getting a new law, national rifle association. the nra has one of the most powerful lobbies in washington and yesterday they set a defiant tone.

>> the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invest in a plan of absolute protection. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away or from a minute away? >> the nra has a plan and that plan is to put armed guards in every school and they've called on congress to make it happen. they've even started their own initiative to promote it. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti joins us from new york. not quite what some people had hoped to hear from nra. we were all awaiting this big statement and that's what we got. >> good morning, randi.

a lot of people had hoped in the wake of the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school, the nra would offer some concessions and possibly depart from its hard-line stance against gun control. as you know, that did not happen. nra leadership made no mention of a proposed assault weapon ban, background checks or decreasing the size of high-capacity magazines. armed guards are not the answer and will not protect children, senator richard blumenthal says. >> the statement today is sadly and shamefully inadequate, calling for more guns and rejecting real action against gun violence. at a defining historic moment for our nation, demanding courageous leadership, the nra has declined to step forward as a credible and constructive partner. >> and it was billed as a major news conference. after making an ai lengthy

statement attacking the media, violent video games, protesters did interrupt the statement with anti-nra messages on a couple of occasions. >> nra, stop killing our children. it's the nra and the assault weapons that are killing our children. >> eventually after those chants, though protesters were led out of the room by security. randi? >> susan, is there any sense of whether armed guards -- we're talking about arming teachers. we're talking about armed guards. is there any sense whether armed guards would make a difference and could protect children? >> for example, senator blumenthal certainly doesn't think so. and many parents won't be comfortable with having more guns in schools. at the shooting at columbine in 1999, there was an armed guard at the school. 13 people died. red lake high school in

minneso minnesota, the shooter killed an unarmed guard stationed at a metal detector. still, there are plenty of gun rights supporters who think the nra's proposal will make schools safer and that gun control is not the answer. randi? >> very interesting debate. we'll continue to follow it. susan candiotti, nice to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you. and just days before christmas, this. just looking at that makes me cold. the system that brought this misery to iowa has moved east. it is bringing inches of snow to western pennsylvania and upstate new york today. those folks are used to maneuvering around the snow drifts. how is the holiday travel for the nation? meteorologist alexandra steele is joining me this morning to answer that and, of course, maybe tell us who will see a white christmas. what do you think, alexandra? >> lots of kids dreams coming true, right?

we haven't had a white christmas like this, the geography of this, this many areas around the country having a white christmas. meteorologically, white christmas means there's an inch of snow on the ground christmas morning. it doesn't have to be coming down, just on the ground at least one inch. look at the breadth and depth of this, right? things have settled down. winds are calming down in the northeast. take a look at this. the northern tier of the country from upstate new york, western new york had a brown ground last christmas. from the twin cities to billings to denver, almost every ski resort from snowshoe in west virginia, aspen, vail. let me show you what will happen around the country on christmas day, though. 37 degrees in new york city. from new york to boston we could see a few snow showers. temperatures will be cold. winds as strong as they are today will have abated by then

for sure. here in the southeast, a little bit of rain. i'll show you why. this area of low pressure is there. it will bring up moisture from the southeast. so it could be rain for birmingham and atlanta but could be snow in oklahoma city. and you have to watch even nashville. could see some rain. we could see a little bit of mixing with snow if that cold air gets deep enough. in the northern tier of the country, cold. no question about that. 5 in fargo. plenty of snow on the ground. no snow falling in minneapolis. obviously a white christmas. rain from seattle to portland christmas day and finally, though, san francisco, los angeles, california, which is so wet today. finally dries out for tomorrow and will be dry for christmas. so, forecasts for today, kind of two pockets of concern if your traveling. the northeast. again, those great lake-effect snow areas will get pounded with four to eight inches of additional snow. it will be blustery in the northeast as well. southeast, clear skies. windy conditions. those winds abating. not as strong as they were yesterday. to the west, another rough day

today in san francisco if you're traveling from san francisco to seattle today, the rain. but finally san francisco gets a break as we head toward tomorrow and tuesday. randi? >> as you said a whole lot of kids will be happy with that white christmas. >> oh, yeah. >> good for them. alexandra, thank you. >> sure. neighbors in newtown are coming together to try to put an end to gun violence. why lawmakers are warning them they better hurry up because time isn't on their side. hey, look! a shooting star! make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever.

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they call themselves newtown united. their mission, to reduce gun violence and preventing other communities to ever having to live their nightmare. i spoke with an organizer, bill toomey along with his daughter, sarah. >> we have learned from folks around the community and around the world that people were deeply touched by what happened here and they do not want these events to go -- to have happened in vain and we should really do whatever we can to lend our voice to the national debate on this issue around gun violence. it's not just about gun control. there are a lot of other issues associated with it.

we want to bring people together to really make a difference to make sure we do whatever is necessary to protect our children. >> some of those voices you want to bring together and certainly that need to be heard are voices like your daughter right there, the young people who could be victims in these mass shootings. sierra, good morning to you. your school was on lockdown friday during this shooting at newtown at the elementary there. what conversations are you having with your friends about the issue of gun violence? >> we were very confused and upset. we were just trying to figure out what was going on. and it was kind of upsetting afterwards, after we found out what had happened. we didn't know how to react. >> and, sierra, i'm sure you're aware that -- >> i'm going to try to bring

high schoolers into newtown united and we're going to try to make a difference. >> i think it's so wonderful you're doing that. people are debating whether teachers should have a gun in the classroom. sierra, how do you feel about that? >> i think that the teachers should focus on teaching instead of carrying a gun. because if they're trying to focus on keeping us safe at the same time as teaching, then it's kind of hard for them to do both at the same time. but they could do other things, like keep the doors locked at times and just try to -- we can come up with other ways and stuff. >> next hour, we will continue to put gun control in focus when we talk to virginia state delegate bob marshall about his

bill in his state. we reached out to members of the new 113th congress who have an a or a plus rating from the nra. not one of them agreed to join us this morning. how does the healing begin and where for those close to the newtown tragedy? it can begin with new voi famil voices playing an unfamiliar role. we wanted to share this ireport from san diego. >> it's a tribute to the schools because i have two kindergartners in school now. there's just no words you can say for it. >> merry christmas! what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ]

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21 minutes past the hour now. welcome back. yesterday the nation paused to remember the victims of newtown, one week after the shooting massacre in connecticut. [ bell tolls ] so how does the healing begin after an incident so horrific? in connecticut people are turning to familiar friends, friends they used to turn to for a laugh on the morning commute. the conversations now, though, are much, much different. >> chaz & aj morning.

>> friday was strange. we went from, in the morning, doing one of the most happy, upbeat fun shows of the year -- >> next year is going to be even better. >> to in the afternoon doing the saddest show of our careers. >> one of the first responders to the scene. how are you? >> i'm doing okay. >> never in your life could you imagine you would pull up to a scene so horrific. >> absolutely not. there are certain things that people just shouldn't see. >> every moment it was getting worse and worse and you couldn't help but feel, okay, have we reached a bottom? >> my sister is the behavioral therapist at sandy hook elementary. >> is that right? is she okay? >> we don't -- we don't know. we haven't heard from her. >> houpg ago did she start there? >> this is her second week there. >> she's probably very busy right now. >> oh, absolutely. she's probably -- will be very terrified when she gets home. right now her priority is her children. >> and monday we had her on the show and she was not okay.

i'm so sorry for your loss. >> thank you. thank you very much. we're all -- we're all surprised and shocked. >> there's almost like a threshold for a nightmare. this left nightmare in the rear view mirror. >> my heart goes out to those parents because they'll never be the same. >> the fact that folks were able to call in and get it out of their system, to talk about it so they don't keep it bottled in, i think it helped them. it helped us. >> jim in sandy hook. >> i'm a father of a third grader who attends the school. you can imagine how our worlds have been turned upside down. >> frank in shelton? >> very close family friends of ours lost his son. >> gretchen in seymour. >> you give hope to all of us who remain hopeless. >> i don't know how these parents are doing. >> a tough day, another tough day and a harder day. >> i'm choked up as we're speak i ing. i can't get over what has happened. >> scott in roxburr.

>> i very close friend of mine, his son was one of the victim. >> how are you? >> we're hanging in. >> as we all are. very, very tough. >> at the cemetery, there was probably 200 to 300 firefighters. >> all lined up along the funeral route. >> having their service for his son today in newtown. >> there was a lovely poem. may i share it with you? >> can you? >> please don't cry. we're okay. we went on a field trip today. it's really nice so i think i'll stay and hold your spot till your field trip day. i know christmas is here and there are toys to be given. so please tell santa to send them to heaven. >> wow! chaz and aj began broadcasting their morning show from milford, connecticut, nearly 11 years ago. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day.

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with kaopectate. checking our headlines now in what was a poorly guarded secret, president obama officially nominated massachusetts senator john kerry to be the next secretary of state. u.n. ambassador susan rice was believed to be the first choice but withdrew her name after several members of congress attacked her response to the deadly attacks in benghazi. and by nearly unanimous vote kerry and his fellow senators approved $60.4 billion in emergency funding for states affected by superstorm sandy. the house of representatives takes up the funding measure next week. a former u.s. marine imprisoned in mexico for four months has been reunited with his family. john hammar was released yesterday, partly thanks to work from u.s. senator bill nelson. he was imprisoned on a questionable charge after police